My husband, Bo, didn't schedule any work for two whole weeks so I'm taking things easy with him. I do however have quite a lot of work scheduled so I want to keep meals simple so that we get to do stuff during the day.

This is a super tasty, quick recipe that will fill you up.

Ingredients

2 medium sized sweet potatoes

410 gr chickpeas

2 tablespoons tahini paste

juice of ½ lemon

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp ground cumin

1 clove of garlic

½ tsp smoked paprika powder

salt and pepper to taste

Preparations

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Steam them in a closed bowl with a pinch of salt in the microwave for 5 minutes at 1000 watts. Rinse the chickpeas well and place them in a food processor with the other ingredients. Let the sweet potatoes cool, place them also in the food processor and blend all ingredients into a hearty hummus.

There's no denying that I love winter. I was born on the 6th of December on a cold winters morning, so it must run through my veins. I really dislike when people say that it's impossible that I love winter and can't stand summer as there's part tropical blood running through my veins. But if you historically do the math, I'm not a part tropical child as my ancestors where South African slaves brought to Suriname. So I have South African and Dutch blood running through my veins, therefore I must like the cold .. I'm babbling, must be the heath ;)

I do start winter prepping in July, I can't help it. I find nothing better to do than making Christmas garlands on a hot summers day over a tall glass of Pimms. I also start to get the house winter-proof. It's cold here, we need lots of blankest and cosy nooks where we can curl up. The house was not build for central heating so we need to burn fires and wear lots of layers.

I've got myself a rattan chair with a sheepskin rug from Bloomingville for the living room. I've got them both on Bol.com and they are super comfortable. Obviously I haven't sat it in myself as it was claimed by our new furry friend, Pompelmoose, a 11 week old kitten who's as cute as Moose on a rattan chair.

Last week Bo and I drove to Amsterdam to start filling the window display I did for Villa ArenA Woonmall. I had to gather furniture and decorations from 50 stores, so it was quite a search. The challenge for me personally was finding authenticity as my style is a mix of vintage, stuff I find on the side of the road, expensive design classics and some new stuff. Villa ArenA had all that in offer and it surprised me.

In a few weeks I will reveal the whole window display but for now I want to advise you to have a good wander around Villa ArenA as it will surprise you what one can actually buy there. Bo left Villa ArenA with books on art and fresco's and I ended up buying the cupboard in the photo. I can pick it up in December and I will be buying everything else in the photo as a birthday present for myself, the stuffed bird included.

Ever since I lived on my own I have been buying DVDs. Some I have passed on and some I've kept. It's crazy how much space DVD boxes take, I've kept a blue cupboard in my snug and a storage rack in the basement just to store DVDs. Nowadays I buy my films on iTunes or I watch them on Netflix, I couldn't be more happier. Digital storage is so much more organized. But to throw all my DVDs out ....? I can't. So I did some good housekeeping instead.

I went from this, 200+ DVDs ....

To those 3 boxes on the top shelf. And the blue cupboard is now up in a guest room.

I've made boxes out of grey board and covered them with wallpaper. I bought a whole bunch of paper DVD and CD sleeves and recycled all the plastic DVD boxes and paper. I have downsized from a cupboard and storage rack in the basement to 3 boxes.

The top measurements are for the box and the bottom for the lid. Cut out of 2 mm thick A3 sized grey board. Lay a piece of wallpaper under the cut out box and lid, trace and cut out allowing an extra 2 cm for folding. Score all the folding lines of the box and lid, fold and hold together with cello tape. Paste the box and lid with wallpaper or bookbinding glue and glue the wallpaper all around the box and lid. That's it! You can make insert cards out of the left over grey board. I used alphabet stamps for the letters.

Mix a pinch of salt, black ground pepper (turn 15 times) and 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 240 g of tuna fish in a bowl. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the mixture on a lettuce leaf. Garnish with cherry tomatoes, a dollop of mayonnaise, some more ground black pepper, a bit of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice, pine nuts and a few leaves of fresh basil.

Did you notice that for the past two weeks I have been posting three times a week? I want to make a habit of it. There will be posts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I had a very good reason to miss out on Friday's post as I had a wedding. And not just to attend but also to decorate and to bake cakes for.

My sister's friends, Anke and Frank, got married. They met later in life, both unattached without children and no previous marriages. They tied the knot in my sister's (restaurant) garden last Friday in front of friends and family. It was a most magical encounter.

My sister and I teamed up. I baked all the cakes, made the wedding bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets and together with my sister I filled dozens of vintage apothecary bottles with flowers.

It was so nice to mix our styles together so that everything still looked Anne-Marie and Yvonne, the combo Anke was dying for to get together. Thank you Anke and Frank for letting us work together, I loved it x

Next month I will be presenting a storefront at Villa ArenA woonmall in Amsterdam, one of the largest interior malls in the Netherlands.

The idea behind the window display at Villa ArenA is that I show the costumer how to combine products from the 50 stores that are based in Villa ArenA. The window display will be there to inspire costumers not to shop at just one store but mixing it up instead.

Last week I went on a scouting hunt and it wasn't easy as there is so much to choose from and I have such little space. But in the end I got there. I'm going for a vintage/bohemian look with pastels and all natural materials like leather and cotton.

Today I'm going to share the last DIY I did for Dille & Kamille. It was such a pleasure working for them. I hope you have enjoyed all of my previous "Dille DIYs".

How to get started

First measure the space you need for the pegboard. You can buy perforated hardboard in any hardware store. You'll have to saw the board to fit your space, often they'll do that for you at the hardware store if you ask them nicely. Make sure to finely sand the edges and the top of the pegboard before assembling it to the wall.

How to assemble the pegboard

Press with a pencil through the holes so that dots are left on the wall. The dots mark where you have to drill the holes. Left and right, top and bottom and one in the middle otherwise the pegboard will curl up a bit. Drill holes in the wall. Place tape (2) over the hole where the screw should be. Place small transparent doorstops (available at any hardware store) on the back of the pegboard and a screw with rivet on the front (1) of the pegboard. Screw all the screws and then remove the tape.

Finishing off the board

Sand the pegboard lightly and remove the dust with a cloth. Primer the pegboard well, sand again lightly and then paint the pegboard in any desired colour.

I'm not actually using the pegboard in my kitchen as there's no space. I would love it though as I'd be very Julia Child. I've set up a space in my basement studio for this photo and will use the pegboard for my crafting supplies instead. More on that soon.

Ingredients

1 l chicken stock

1 white onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

260 g risotto rice

20 large shrimp

8 sprigs fresh parsley

black pepper and salt to taste

fresh Parmesan

Preparation

Prepare a litre of chicken stock from a stock cube. I love to use the stock cubes from Kallo as they are organic and do not contain much salt. Cut the onion finely and crush the garlic. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic, about 5 minutes. Pour the risotto rice in the same pan and mix with the onion and garlic, about 1 minute. Now add 750 ml of the chicken stock, place the lid on the pan and leave the risotto on low heat until cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove the lid from the pan, stir the risotto and add the remaining 250 ml chicken stock and the shrimp. Stir again, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, put the lid on the pan and let the risotto stand for 5 minutes. Finely chop the parsley and mix it into the risotto with ground black pepper and salt to taste. Grate fresh Parmesan individually per plate.

For the past two years I've been trying to find the perfect small over de shoulder bag. I'm extremely picky; the strap is too long, the strap is too short, the leather is too red, there's a button on that bag that shouldn't be there ... and so on. There's no denying that I'm very serious about my accessories shopping.

I was pleasantly surprised when I learned about Keecie. Keecie bags and accessories are really plain and simple on the outside but cheery and happy on the inside. So when I was asked to review some of their products, I said Yes! in a heartbeat.

I've used the Picking Flowers, medium over the shoulder bag last weekend to stroll around an amusement park with. It was the best testing ground ever as I had to carry it in and out several roller-coasters. And I'm smitten, the length of the strap is perfect, the size of the bag is just fine and I felt really save as the strap to close the bag with goes all the way round. And as a bonus, I've got a really beautiful inside to look at each time I opened the bag, and it didn't drop out of a roller-coaster when I hung upside down four times in a row.

My Picks

These are the products I choose. I really love the Tree House clutch as I can use it as a small party clutch or as an oversized pencil case for the use in a larger bag. I do really need a larger Keecie bag!! Love it!

Images by and posted in collaboration with Keecie - all views are my own

Remember this post about getting older? Well it's taking it's toll as yet my home office is changing bit by bit too.

We started with lowering the ceiling by adding an extra trim and painting it white. This way the 3.45 m high ceiling doesn't look that high. To create contrast Bo painted the walls in a beautiful soft green. As my office window is overlooking dense trees on the next door plot, the room lights up green anyway in summer. In winter it's a dull grey room. Now it will be green all year round.

The wall with the pink wallpaper and shelves looks really odd right now but things will change as soon as I made my mind up for patio doors out to the garden yay or nay! There will be either doors with a bookcase build around it or there will be a build-in bookcase covering the whole wall. I need time to make my mind up.

I've placed a Zuiver Buckle Head floor lamp in the corner next to my desk for extra light. I also got that one from Bol.com. I also got the jug that holds peonies FROM MY OWN GARDEN! from Bol.com. I love the efficiency of shopping in one place without driving, parking and traffic-jams.

Both my parents are and were suffering from type 2 diabetes. With me passing 40 this year (oh please shut up, it's crazy) I'm getting a wee bit scared. I'm overweight and I don't exercise enough. I have the good fortune that I do have a dislike for junk food as I love healthy food. I don't smoke, I don't drink alcohol and I've always preferred to drink water. But I do need to get my sugars and exercises under control.

I've started last week to do a 15 minutes exercise routine in the morning, 50 times up and down the stairs in the afternoon and another 15 minutes exercise routine before I go to bed. Every other day I go for a walk and listen to audio books on my iPhone. So far so good.

I love anything containing E supplements and for a month now I've been cutting them completely out of my life. I'm snacking on nakd bars and natural sugar ice cream pops I make myself. Another, so far so good.

The Recipe for the Chocolate Ice Creams

Mix 125 ml coconut milk with 2 tablespoons of raw cocoa-powder, 1 tablespoon maple-syrup and a pinch of salt in a blender and freeze overnight.

The Recipe for the Strawberry Ice Creams

Mix 125 ml coconut milk with 1 tablespoon maple-syrup and 20 strawberries (chopped in small pieces) with a mixer and freeze overnight.

Each batch makes approximate 4 pops.

I'll keep you posted on my path to cutting refined sugars from my life and how I get my kicks from exercising without pulling my hair out and crying like a little baby. Oh the things I would give to be a sumo-wrestler living on pasta in Italy ... sigh.

You need a 5 mm crochet hook and Annell Malmedy yarn form IDA Yarn Shop. I've used a beautiful soft alpaca yarn for the top hanger which I bought in Dordrecht and is one of a kind. The importance of this pattern is that you use that 5 mm hook!

I often get asked where I got my pink scissors from. I bought mine ages ago from Sublime Stitching but she's no longer selling them. I found a pair on this website. It's one of those best lifetime buys.

Have you heard of at{mine} already? No ... at{mine} is a community for home & design lovers - real home and real design lovers. It's a community where home-owners can display their own homes and tag photos with the links to the shops where they bought an item or a piece of furniture. It's like real time home peeping, something I miss about living in Belgium as all curtains are always shut.

You can click the button and become a member. I'm on there as well, find me after signing in under Yvonne Eijkenduijn.

Things are quite busy these days. Promoting books, working on another book (to be released spring 2016), writing my column for Sjiek magazine, doing lots of productions here and there and maintaining this lovely space. I love it, I have finally found my groove. On days that I'm not working on my own recipes I like to cheat a little by using something that makes cooking a bit easier and faster. I'm not a pot and satchel person myself so when MAGGI asked me to get creative with one of their products I took on the challenge.

I'm introducing one of their products today. Braadstomen is steamed chicken from a bag. You place the chicken with some fresh veg in a bag, tie-wrap it and place it in the oven for 40 minutes. It's sounds dangerous but it's not. It's like magic, delicious and super easy to prepare. The satchel contains a steaming bag, a tie-wrap and herbs to season the chicken. And after 40 minutes you have this amazing tender chicken.

MAGGI sent Loran to my home to shoot a video in which we demonstrate how to prepare the chicken and what one can do in 40 minutes. Watch the video of Loran and I preparing the chicken, embroidering the napkin and taking the above photo. Plus you get the see my home, it's all quite embarrassing - ha!!

Recipe

Preparation

Steam the chicken fillet with the chopped onion and peppers for 40 minutes in the oven, follow the instructions on the bag. When the 40 minutes are over toss the content of the bag in a large pan together with the beans and corn. Cut the chicken in smaller chunks and heat until the beans are hot.

There have been many attempts on growing Hibiscus in pots for my garden. I do not have the space to plant a massive Hibiscus bush in my garden so I thought pots would do but they don't. I failed miserably 3 years in a row and I have officially given up. So when I learned that there's also an indoor Hibiscus, I had to get one. Once at home I thought the plant was looking rather fake with it's super green, shiny leaves. But I'm embracing it and starting to grow really fond of it.

Did you know that the flowers of the Hibiscus are edible and are used in salads in the Pacific Islands?The flower is additionally used in hair care as a preparation. It is also used to shine shoes in certain parts of India. It can also be used as a pH indicator. When used, the flower turns acidic solutions to a dark pink or magenta colour and basic solutions to green. In Indonesia, these flowers are called "kembang sepatu", which literally means "shoe flower". Who knew ...

To raise more awareness for plants mooiwatplantendoen.nl is so nice to offer five of my Dutch readers a Hibiscus each! I know that commenting is so 2012 that's why I've decided that in order to participate you can leave a comment on any platform you like. Facebook, instagram or over here. You just have to find the Hibiscus photos and leave a comment, I'll draw a winner next week.

We've been living in this house for almost 7 years and we are still not done renovating and decorating. It's a large, old and worn down house. See it like this; you have a real deep cut and it needs stitches, like a lot of stitches but instead you put a plaster on the cut and you keep putting plasters on it. But under all those plasters the cut is getting worse and worse. Eventually you'll have to remove all the plasters, get the help of an expert and get it cleaned, sterilized and stitched up. Because you have waited so long the healing takes a lot longer and the cut will leave a really nasty scar. So you'll need plastic surgery. That's what our home looks like because the previous owners have been using plasters for the past 119 years.

Most of the plasters are gone, stitches have been made and plastic surgery has been undertaken but there's still a whole lot of healing to do. We took a break last year to work on some personal stuff but now we are back in swing.

There's this new cupboard in the dining room. I've been searching for it the last few months and finally found a perfect match. It's from an old school and now stores china, tablecloths and glassware. Nicely tucked away as I like it.

I love how this red bench raised so much conversation over on Instagram and on Facebook. It's really good to engage again, we need to do that more often.

The sun is out! It's almost 20°C outside and I'm having a great week. I even found a penny and picked it up today, it worked. I found two beautiful Leonardo Da Vinci roses on stem for just €9.95 each. To me, that's a damn good day! And tonight we are going to save a cow and have veggie burgers for dinner.

Ingredients for the burger

2 large sweet potatoes

1 can (310 gr) cannellini beans

2 cloves of garlic

20 gr bread-crumbs

50 gr white flour

1 eg

1 ½ tsp smoked paprika powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black peper

½ tsp ground cumin

1 avocado

3 tbsp olive oil

4 wholegrain buns

Ingredients for the dressing

6 tbsp Greek yoghurt

1 tsp maple syrup

salt and black pepper

Cut the sweet potatoes in half and place them on a paper towel in the microwave. Cook for 5 minutes, turn them over and cook for another 5 minutes. Allow the potatoes to cool, remove the peel and mash the potatoes with a fork in a large bowl.

Rinse the beans with water and drain them well. Mash the beans with a fork and mix them with the mashed potatoes. Crush the garlic and add to the purée . Add the breadcrumbs, egg, flour, paprika, salt, ground pepper and ground cumin and stir well through the purée.

Heath the olive oilin a skillet.Remove the mashfrom the refrigerator andmake 4equalballs. Lay them on a flat surface and pat them flat, about 1 cm thick. Fry the burgers first5minutes on one sideand 5 minuteson the other side.Use moreoilifyou think itis too little.

Place theavocado sliceson the buns, put theburgers on top of the avocado, pour the yoghurt dressing over the burgers andtuck in.